Teacher Work Sample
Context
My teacher work sample will take place in a sophomore English class. The student population
is unique in the fact that there are many different levels of readiness. There are three students
with an IEP, several that thrive, and some that aren’t necessarily the most intelligent in the class,
but are highly creative. I’m excited for the possibilities a poetry unit has to offer them: poetry is a
subject in which everyone can participate and grow. The first section of this group has few
behavioral problems. They can be talkative, but this is in part to how I run my class, and when
directed appropriately creates a great teaching and learning environment.
The second hour is similar, with less variation in readiness, and a very polarized classroom.
One side, comprised of almost all boys, is incredibly talkative, and the other, almost all girls, is
very quiet. They all, however, have much to contribute. In both classes there are who are
capable of producing quality work, but lack the motivation to follow through on assignments.
My plan is to give each student many opportunities to practice using poetic language, and
expose them to many different types of poems and poets. Putting them in groups for discussion
and workshop will help them think about poetry in different ways, and give them opportunities to
learn from their peers. I want to use different methods of grouping to shake up the division
between the “talkative side” and “quiet side” of the classroom. I think making it fun and relatable
will help motivate those kids who are the best at finishing work. Worthy of note is that I
essentially have complete freedom in constructing this unit.
Introduction
Student Teacher _______Tom Forke_______________
Cooperating Teacher _____ Teresa Pokorny___________
School _______Aquinas__________________
Projected Teaching Dates
___________10/2-10/16_____________
Understanding by Design Stage One
Complete the template below. (See annotated template on the student teaching
website for reminders on expectations for Stage One completion.)
Established Goals:
What understandings are desired?
What essential questions will be considered?
What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?
Pre-Assessment
Copy/Paste pre-assessment and rubric, criteria sheet, etc here. (DO NOT complete the
analysis and narrative portion of the pre-assessment criteria now. Complete that AFTER
you give the pre-assessment to students and include in the final TWS submission.)
Poetry Pre-Assessment
Label the rhyme scheme, meter, and classify the type of stress pattern in this section of a poem:
Batter my heart, three person’d God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, ‘and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make new.
A _____________ is the basic rhythmic structure of verse or lines in verse.
What is symbolism?
Jumbo Shrimp is an example of a(n)_____________________
The refrigerator welcomed me with open arms is an example of _____________________
Boom! Bam! Blame! are examples of __________________
Poetry with out meter is called __________________
A ____________ is a comparison using the words “like” or “as.”
What is the theme of this poem? Support your answer with evidence from the poem.
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
From the looks of it, the pre-assessment indicates that the students have a good background in
poetry. A good number of them are familiar with the poetic devices we will discuss in the unit, as
well as deriving theme from a poem. They almost all did well on rhyme scheme, but could use
help learning meter. Almost no one did that portion. It think some skipped it out of laziness, while
some didn’t see that it was part of the directions, and other simply didn’t know how. I have few
modifications to make for the unit.
Understanding by Design Stage Two
Complete the template below. (See annotated template on the student teaching
website for reminders on expectations for Stage Two completion.)
What evidence will show that students understand?
__x___ I have reviewed this with my cooperating teacher and he/she is in favor of my
plans.
Student Signature:
Thomas M. Forke
Throughout the unit, beginning with day 1 will keep a writing journal, in which they will they
will complete twice weekly writing prompts, as well as favorite poems, original poetry and
revisions. They will be graded according completion (all prompts, poems, and revisions will be
counted), display of unit knowledge, and effort in improving the poems.
Modified Rubric:
Scoring Rubric for Poetry Project
Included in the collection should be:
1 poem with labeled rhyme scheme ___/5
1 poem with labeled meter, and classified (iambic pentameter, etc.) ___/5
In class writing prompts:
“Theme for English B” ___/5
Observation ___/5
“I have been one acquainted with…” ___/5
“The soul selects its own…” ___/5
2 poems that you enjoy, with three sentences saying why you like it and what you think it
means for each:
Poem 1 with explanation ___/10
Poem 2 with explanation ___/10
2 original poems with three sentences explaining theme/meaning and why you wrote it:
Poem 1 with explanation ___/10
Poem 2 with explanation ___/10
1 revision for each poem ___/10
Revision Sheet ___/5
Definition of poetry and reasoning (at least on paragraph) ___/5
Total ___/90
You will be graded according to completion and quality of work.
HAND IN THIS RUBRIC WITH YOUR PROJECT
Due Date: Thursday, October 16
Other assessments:
Poetic Device Practice:
1 Create a metaphor to describe school.
2 Create a simile to describe waking up in the morning.
3 Create a slogan for a family business using alliteration.
4 Describe the scene of a car crash using onomatopoeia.
5 Describe your favorite possession using personification.
6 What is the difference between assonance and rhyme?
7 Practice imagery by describing your home in 3-4 sentences.
8 References to people, media, or other literature in a poem is a(n)_______________
Students will bring in a poem of choice that contains rhyme. They will mark the rhyme
scheme in that poem and turn it in.
Poetry Quiz
What type of literary device is being used?
Word Bank: Onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, metaphor, rhyme, oxymoron, simile,
personification. Each word is used once.
1. He smelled like a dumpster filled with grease in mid-July
1. His mind was a jungle, wild, untamed, and dangerous.
1. The branches of the tree reached out to my window, running its fingers on it
threateningly. 1. Bang! Pow! Blam! The guns sounded as Black Bart and his crew made off the 20
million dollars.
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/How I wonder what you are
1. Big Bobby burped brightly 1. Jumbo Shrimp
1. We walk in the street/while we leap/and smile with our teeth
Feet: 1=monometer, 2= dimeter, 3=trimeter, 4=quadrameter, 5=pentameter, 6= hexameter
Label the rhyme scheme AND meter in this poem, and classify it (trochaic hexameter, dactylic
monometer, etc.)
Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
-William Shakespeare
Classification: ______________________
Determine the theme of this poem, support your answer with clues from the text:
Self-Portrait
I resemble everyone
but myself, and sometimes see
in shop-windows
despite the well-knownlaws
of optics,
the portrait of a stranger,
date unknown,
often signed in a corner
by my father.
-A.K. Ramanujan
Revision Sheet
2. What I like about my poem:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. What I do not like:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. Poetic devices I used in my poems:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. What I would like to change:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. How I could make these changes:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
Student Teacher: Thomas M Forke Grade Level: 9 Date: 10/2
State Standard: By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories,
dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and
proficiently. Subject: English, Poetry
Name of Lesson: Introduction to Poetry Period / Time: Block 3A/3B
I. Goal: Students will begin to think for themselves what poetry is
Students will receive exposure to different types of poetry
Students will be excited to study poetry Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives:
Open up: what is poetry?
Youtube videos: Shane Koyczan “Beethoven”
Maya Angelou “Still I rise”
Other poems: “Beer Bottle” Ted Kooser,
“The Red Wheelbarrow” William Carlos
Williams
Hand out poetry packet
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
Christian themes found even in secular writing
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
Youtube, computer, projector
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: Poems
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: What is poetry? Have students think, pair, share. Write findings on board. Key
questions: Does poetry have to rhyme? What makes poetry different from prose? What devices does
poetry use? B. Transition: Now that we’ve discussed what we think poetry is, let’s take a look at some poems
and discover some of its other characteristics. C. Main Lesson: Youtube videos: Shane Koyczan, Maya Angelou. Read Ted Kooser “Beer Bottle”
Target Questions: What did we learn about poetry from these videos? What mood do these poems have/
put you in? Do you like the poems? (thus up/down)
D. Transition: “As we’ve seen, poetry is diverse in its devices and its writers. In the packet I give to
you there are even more that we will read analyze.” E. Conclusion: Hand out packets and return pre-assessments. “Now that we’ve looked at and
thought about poetry, we know that its devices are one of the main factors to take into account when
defining poetry, tomorrow we will look more in depth at these devices and how they function. Have a
great day.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment:
Asking target questions to the class as feedback, collect pre-assessments.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: None
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
I felt like it went well. The kids really enjoyed “Beethoven” and “Beer Bottle”
they weren’t so impressed by “Still I Rise” they were engaged throughout the
lesson, and gave some great insight as to what poetry is. I filled the board with
characteristics of poetry that we discussed.
X. Coop’s Comments:
Good overall lesson. The students liked the poems and the videos. Could
have had more direction in the “defining poetry” discussion.
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
William Butler Yeats
15
A moon rising white
Is the beauty of my lovely one.
Ah, the tenderness, the grace!
Heart’s pain consumes me.
A moon rising bright
Is the fairness of my lovely one.
Ah, the gentle softness!
Heart’s pain wounds me.
A moon rising in splendor
Is the beauty of my lovely one.
Ah, the delicate yielding!
Heart’s pain torments me.
-the Book of Songs, the Zhou Dynasty
The Poem
It’s all in
the sound. A song.
Seldom a song. It should
be a song-made of
particulars, wasps,
a gentian-something
immediate, open
scissors, a lady’s
eyes-waking
centrifugal, centripetal
-William Carlos Williams Binky’s Poem
People think I can't write a poem,
but they are so wrong, I can write a poem.
I wrote this one, I wrote this poem,
and I gave it the title Binky's poem.
So shut up! The end!
-Binky
I Loved My Friend
"I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There's nothing more to say.
The poem ends,
Soft as it began--
I loved my friend."
-Langston Hughes
The Fish
I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
- the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly- I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
- It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
- if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels- until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go.
-Elizabeth Bishop
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
-Maya Angelou
Acquainted with the Night
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
A luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
-Robert Frost
Oranges
The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted -
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickle in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn't say anything.
I took the nickle from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady's eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.
Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.
-Gary Soto
THEME FOR ENGLISH B
The instructor said,
Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you--- Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am the only colored student in my class. The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page. (I hear New York too.) Me---who? Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach. I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like the same things other folks like who are other races. So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. But it will be a part of you, instructor. You are white--- yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That's American. Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that's true! As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--- although you're older---and white--- and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
-Langston Hughes
Self-Portrait
I resemble everyone
but myself, and sometimes see
in shop-windows
despite the well-knownlaws
of optics,
the portrait of a stranger,
date unknown,
often signed in a corner
by my father.
-A.K. Ramanujan
"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—
And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—
I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.
-Emily Dickinson
I Know a Man
As I sd to my friend, because I am always talking, -- John, I sd, which was not his name, the darkness sur- rounds us, what can we do against it, or else, shall we & why not, buy a goddamn big car, drive, he sd, for christ's sake, look out where yr going.
-Robert Creeley
This is just to say
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold
-William Carlos Williams
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
-Edgar Allan Poe
Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
-William Shakespeare
A Boy Named Sue
Well, my daddy left home when I was three,
and he didn't leave much to Ma and me,
just this old guitar and a bottle of booze.
Now I don't blame him because he run and hid,
but the meanest thing that he ever did was
before he left he went and named me Sue.
Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke,
and it got lots of laughs from a lot of folks,
it seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
and some guy would laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell you, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.
Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean.
My fist got hard and my wits got keen.
Roamed from town to town to hide my shame,
but I made me a vow to the moon and the stars,
I'd search the honky tonks and bars and kill
that man that gave me that awful name.
But it was Gatlinburg in mid July and I had
just hit town and my throat was dry.
I'd thought i'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon in a street of mud
and at a table dealing stud sat the dirty,
mangy dog that named me Sue.
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
from a worn-out picture that my mother had
and I knew the scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old
and I looked at him and my blood ran cold,
and I said, "My name is Sue. How do you do?
Now you're gonna die." Yeah, that's what I told him.
Well, I hit him right between the eyes and he went down
but to my surprise he came up with a knife
and cut off a piece of my ear. But I busted a chair
right across his teeth. And we crashed through
the wall and into the street kicking and a-gouging
in the mud and the blood and the beer.
I tell you I've fought tougher men but I really can't remember when.
He kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laughin' and then I heard him cussin',
he went for his gun and I pulled mine first.
He stood there looking at me and I saw him smile.
And he said, "Son, this world is rough and if
a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
and I knew I wouldn't be there to help you along.
So I gave you that name and I said 'Goodbye'.
I knew you'd have to get tough or die. And it's
that name that helped to make you strong."
Yeah, he said, "Now you have just fought one
helluva fight, and I know you hate me and you've
got the right to kill me now and I wouldn't blame you
if you do. But you ought to thank me
before I die for the gravel in your guts and the spit
in your eye because I'm the nut that named you Sue."
Yeah, what could I do? What could I do?
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun,
called him pa and he called me a son,
and I came away with a different point of view
and I think about him now and then.
Every time I tried, every time I win and if I
ever have a son I think I am gonna name him
Bill or George - anything but Sue.
-Shel Silverstein
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
Complete Destruction
It was an icy day. We buried the cat, then took her box and set fire to it in the back yard. Those fleas that escaped earth and fire died by the cold.
-William Carlos Williams
All Along the Watchtower
"There must be some way out of here" said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion", I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.
"No reason to get excited", the thief he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late".
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
-Bob Dylan
Mad Girl’s Love Song
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"
-Sylvia Plath
303
The Soul selects her own Society --
Then -- shuts the Door --
To her divine Majority --
Present no more --
Unmoved -- she notes the Chariots -- pausing --
At her low Gate --
Unmoved -- an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat --
I've known her -- from an ample nation --
Choose One --
Then -- close the Valves of her attention --
Like Stone –
-Emily Dickinson
Wish You Were Here
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
-Pink Floyd
Beer Bottle
In the burned-
out highway
ditch the throw-
away beer
bottle lands
standing up
unbroken, like a cat
thrown off
of a roof
to kill it, landing hard
and dazzled
in the sun
right side up; sort of a
miracle.
-Ted Kooser
O Captain! My Captain
links to videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppwowTJg0mI
Student Teacher: Thomas Forke Grade Level: 9 Date: 10/3
State Standard: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on
meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or
informal tone). Subject: English, Poetry Name of Lesson: Poetic Devices Period / Time: 3A/3B
I. Goal: Students will learn the primary poetic devices, how to identify, and use them
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: Writing prompt: “Theme for English B” Hand out poetic devices worksheet, run
through and give examples. Look at poems, “In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound and “The
Poem” by William Carlos Williams. Discuss and identify devices in these poems as a class, have
them work in groups and find devices in “Gargoyle” by Carl Sandburg. Collect sheets.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
Open and end with prayer
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials:
Worksheet, 3 poems
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: Read “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes to the kids. Ask what their
opinion is of the poem. Then have them write their own “Themes” telling me about themselves in poem
form. B. Transition: Yesterday we discussed different forms of poetry and what poetry is. Today we’ll
discuss the devices that make poetry.
C. Main Lesson: Distribute “Poetic Devices Worksheet” walk through definitions as a class. Ask
for examples, give some of my own. Read “In a Station of the Metro” and search for poetic devices as a
class. Devices: assonance, alliteration, imagery. Do the same with “The Poem,” devices: alliteration,
imagery, symbolism. Have the kids work in pairs to identify and write down devices in “Gargoyle” by
Carl Sandburg. Pair them off mixing the “quiet side” with the “talkative side” of the classroom. Share
findings as a class.
D. Transition: Looking at any poem, we can clearly observe poetic devices at work. Often times we
write poems without even realizing that we use them. Poetic language is incredibly diverse, and
deceptively easy to identify and use. E. Conclusion: collect Themes and the devices the wrote down for Gargoyle. “Rhyme is one of the
devices we observed being used in poems. Tomorrow we will learn what rhyme scheme is and how we
label it in poems”
Required Adaptations/Modifications: Intentional grouping, mixing dynamics of class.
VII. Assessment: Themes, and devices in “Gargoyle”
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: Find a poem that has rhyme in it, print it out and bring it to class
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation: The lesson went well. The kids seemed very knowledgable of the different
devices. This is clearly something they’ve studied before. They did great in finding devices in the
Pound and Williams poems. They pointed out some of which I had not even thought. They also
seemed to like the poems.
X. Coop’s Comments:
Doing a good job of showing them different kinds of poetry, and covering
good material. The students are engaged.
Poetic Devices:
Word Bank: oxymoron alliteration onomatopoeia symbol allusion simile imagery rhyme assonance metaphor
personification
__________________the formation of a word as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of
a sound made by or associated with its referent.
Example:
__________________a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as
in “she is like a rose.”
Example:
__________________a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to
which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is
our God.”
Example:
__________________the repetition of the same consonant sounds
Example:
__________________the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate
objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.
Example:
__________________something used for or regarded as representing something else; a
material object epresenting something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign.
Example:
__________________the act or practice of making a casual or indirect reference to something;
the act of alluding.
Example:
__________________the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of
such images collectively.
Example:
__________________a figure of speech that creates a seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in
“cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”
Example:
__________________identity in sound of some part, especially the end, of words or lines of
verse.
Example:
__________________Also called vowel rhyme. Rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are
used with different consonants in the stressed syllables of the rhyming words, as in penitent
and reticence.
Example:
Student Teacher: Thomas Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/6
State Standard: Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text Subject: English, poetry
Name of Lesson: Rhyme Scheme in Poetry Period / Time: Block 3A/3B I. Goal: Students will understand what rhyme scheme is
Students will be able to label rhyme scheme in various poems
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: “Observation” prompt
Rhyme scheme lesson
Rhyme scheme practice with partner
Rhyme scheme practice with own poem
Poetic device exit ticket
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
open and close with prayer
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
smart board
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials:
Rhyme Scheme Practice Sheet, poetic device practice sheet
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: “Observation” writing prompt: “Poets look at the world differently. They observe
things, looking closely at them and finding the ‘deeper’ meanings, simply find something intriguing to you
and write 30-40 words about it.” B. Transition: We’ve studied the different types of poems, and their devices, now we will learn
about one of the ways it is classified and labeled in studying rhyme scheme.
C. Main Lesson: Introduce the concept of rhyme scheme, assigning a letter to each different rhyme
that appears in a poem. Show sonnet “Hug ‘O War” by Shel Silverstein, and “Fire and Ice” by Robert
Frost one smart-board, mark them up appropriately while students work along on paper and contribute
orally. Then have students pair off and mark the rhyme scheme on “When I Have Fears that I May Cease
to Be” and an Emily Dickinson poem. Come together as a class and have students volunteer to mark them
on the smart board. With remaining time, have students mark rhyme scheme in their individual poems. D. Transition: Rhyme scheme is one way we can organize poetry. It helps us to think about the
poems and practice rhyme ourselves. E. Conclusion: Collect individual rhyme scheme practice poems. “Next week we will discuss
perhaps the most important aspect of poetry: theme. Have a good weekend.”
Required Adaptations/Modifications: Students have choice of own poem, work with peers to fully
grasp rhyme scheme.
VII. Assessment: Individual poems, observations.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
It was a good lesson. The kids caught on very quickly and had fun using the
smart-board. There were few difficulties.
X. Coop’s Comments:
Overall effective lesson. The students did well with rhyme scheme.
Rhyme Scheme practice:
Hug O’ War
Shel Silverstein
I will not play at tug o' war
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses
And everyone grins
And everyone cuddles
And everyone wins.
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
• Robert Frost
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Emily Dickinson
When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
John Keats
Poetic Device Practice:
1 Create a metaphor to describe school.
2 Create a simile to describe waking up in the morning.
3 Create a slogan for a family business using alliteration.
4 Describe the scene of a car crash using onomatopoeia.
5 Describe your favorite possession using personification.
6 What is the difference between assonance and rhyme?
7 Practice imagery by describing your home in 3-4 sentences.
8 References to people, media, or other literature in a poem is a(n)_______________
Student Teacher: Thomas Forke Grade Level: Sophomore Date: 10/7
State Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the
text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary
of the text. Subject: English
Name of Lesson: Theme in poetry Period / Time: Block 3A/3B
I. Goal:
Students will be able to read and analyze a poem and identity theme from the poem.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives:
Acquianted with the Night Prompt
Theme discussion/examples
Theme activity with worksheet
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
Find Christian themes in poetry, including secular poetry.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials:
Main Idea/Supporting Text Worksheet
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: "I have been on Acquainted with…" students write a poem with that as their first
sentence, I’ll take volunteers to share afterward.
B. Transition: Perhaps the most important aspects of studying poetry is discussing what it means,
that is, the theme.
C. Main Lesson: I will introduce the concept of theme to the students. Main points: theme is the
message or central idea being communicated to the reader in any work. Poetry is usually more difficult to
derive it. Theme MUST be supported by the text. Run through poems: "I Loved My Friend," "Binky's
Poem" "I had a Friend" …distribute worksheets, and have students work in pairs finding themes for
"Abandoned Farmhouse" or "Junkyards"
D. Transition: Good discussion on theme, we will continue these thoughts by looking at our own
poems tomorrow.
E. Conclusion: Theme is perhaps the most important aspect of poetry, as it communicates our
thoughts and observances to other people, and paints a picture of our human condition. When reading
poetry, it is always important to ask "what is he/she saying in this poem?"
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment:
Main idea/supporting clues sheet
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment:
Bring lyrics to your favorite song for Wednesday
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
I felt like this lesson went really well. The kids had great ideas and were as engaged
as they have been all year. They worked in groups very well, and liked the poems for the
most part. I would have liked to have left more time for them to work on the themes at
the end of class with the “Main idea/supporting details” sheet.
X. Coop’s Comments:
It was a strong lesson. Taught them important things about theme and chose good poems
for it. The flow could have been a bit better.
extra poems:
Abandoned Farmhouse By Ted Kooser
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm—a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.
Junkyards by Julian Lee Rayford
You take any junkyard
and you will see it filled with
symbols of progress
remarkable things discarded
What civilization when ahead on
all its onward-impelling implements
are given over to the junkyards
to rust
The supreme implement, the wheel
is conspicuous in the junkyards
The axles and the levers
the cogs and the flywheels
all the parts of dynamos
all the parts of motors
fall the parts of rusting. Main Idea/Supporting Clues Worksheet:
Student Teacher: Tom Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/8 State Standard: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage
when writing or speaking.
Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for
reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate
independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to
comprehension or expression. Subject: English, poetry
Name of Lesson: Poetry in Song Period / Time: 3A/3B I. Goal:
Students will get practice in grammar skills
Students will learn new vocabulary words
Students will discuss and think about songs are poems
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: Grammar practice
Vocabulary exercise
Paragraph writing
Song Group work
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration: Poetry can always point to Christ, seek Him in your readings
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology: Smart board
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: Smart board, Group work sheets to fill out for discussion
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: Project a sentence full of grammatical errors on the board, students volunteer to
make corrections until the sentence is perfect.
B. Transition: “Everyone get out your journals, it’s vocab time!”
C. Main Lesson: read vocabulary words, have students give their definitions and then give the
“correct” one for them to write down. Give examples of the words in sentences. Students then must write
a paragraph on a topic of their choosing using each vocabulary word and showcasing the capitalization of
proper nouns skill.
Following this, I will pair them off intentionally, to split up the “talkative” side of the classroom, and in
general pair the kids with someone with whom they will work well. Meanwhile, I will stop at each group
and facilitate discussion and ask them what their findings are.
D. Transition: Good job today class, tomorrow is “Poetry Sharing Day” choose which poems you
will read. E. Conclusion: Warn them about quiz on Friday, Peace Out
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: Students write paragraphs showcasing a grammar skill and the learned
vocabulary words.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: projects
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
Today went really well. The grammar and vocabulary exercises were good,
but the song activity went really well. The students really got into reading and
discussing each other’s song lyrics. I wish I left an entire class period for this. The
intentional pairing was very effective as well. I had several comments on how
much they enjoyed it. I wish we had more time.
X. Coop’s Comments: Good lesson, kids responded well.
Discussion guide:
Quote that I found interesting:
Something I liked:
Something I didn’t like:
Questions I have:
Theme:
Student Teacher: Thomas M Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/9 State Standard: Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text Subject:
English, poetry
Name of Lesson: Studying Meter Period / Time: Block 3A/3B I. Goal: Students will understand what meter is and the purpose it serves
Students will be able to mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem
Student will be able to classify poems according to their different meters
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives:
“The Soul Selects their own...”
Introduce poetry portfolio project
Direct instruction over meter, using smart board
Read poems aloud to students, have them mark the meter
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration: Open and close with prayer
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
smart board
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: meter study sheet, poetry project rubric
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: Read “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” by Emily Dickinson. Have them write a
poem with the prompt: The soul selects their own... have them finish the sentence and write a poem with
that as their first line. B. Transition: Before we’ve talked about how we can classify poetry according to rhyme scheme.
Now, we’ll look at another way to label and classify poetry called meter. C. Main Lesson: Introduce poetry project in depth (as opposed to brief introduction a few days
before). Hand out rubric. Tell what is to be included, how revisions are to be done, and specifications for
poems as well. Hand out meter study sheet and project poems on the smart board. Start with “Shall I
compare thee to a summer’s day” by Shakespeare, then “Song” by Sir John Suckling. Explain the
difference between stressed and unstressed, and how each syllable receives a stress mark. Explain what a
foot is and how to classify (iambic pentameter, trochaic hexameter, etc). Have them work in pairs with
“Charge of the light Brigade,” and individually on “The Destruction of the Sennacherib,” take volunteers
to mark the meter on the smart board.
D. Transition: Meter is a good way to classify poetry, as we’ll find modern poetry doesn’t fit these
specifications as it introduces something call ‘free verse’ with is poetry lacking consistent meter and
rhyme scheme.
E. Conclusion: Collect “Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Destruction of the Sennacherib”
remind them of tomorrow’s quiz
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: Check “Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Destruction of the Sennacherib”
for understanding of meter
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: Bring two original poems for Friday
Required Adaptations/Modifications: Project is designed to meet kids where they are. Each kid has
a different level of poetic readiness and that will be taken into great consideration with grading
these and working with them one on one. I will also have to go over meter with them again before
the quiz.
IX. Self-Evaluation: This wasn’t my strongest lesson. The kids didn’t really seem to grasp the
concept of meter, and I didn’t explain it very well. The students on the higher end of the readiness
spectrum seemed to be doing all right, but not as well as they should have been, and the mid to
lower end students struggled with it. I wish I had more time for practice.
X. Coop’s Comments:
Could have been more thorough in meter teaching. Tried to do too much
perhaps.
Meter Study
SONNET 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Song
Why so pale and wan fond lover?
Prithee why so pale?
Will, when looking well can't move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee why so pale?
Why so dull and mute young sinner?
Prithee why so mute?
Will, when speaking well can't win her,
Saying nothing do't?
Prithee why so mute?
Quit, quit for shame, this will not move,
This cannot take her;
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her;
The devil take her.
Sir John Suckling
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Alfred Lord Tennyson
The Destruction of the Sennacherib
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
George Gordon Byron
Scoring Rubric for Poetry Project
Included in the collection should be:
1 poem with labeled rhyme scheme ___/5
1 poem with labeled meter, and classified (iambic pentameter, etc.) ___/5
In class writing prompts:
“Theme for English B” ___/5
Observation ___/5
“I have been one acquainted with…” ___/5
“The soul selects its own…” ___/5
2 poems that you enjoy, with three sentences saying why you like it and what you think it
means for each:
Poem 1 with explanation ___/10
Poem 2 with explanation ___/10
2 original poems with three sentences explaining theme/meaning and why you wrote it:
Poem 1 with explanation ___/10
Poem 2 with explanation ___/10
1 revision for each poem ___/10
Revision Sheet ___/5
Definition of poetry and reasoning (at least one paragraph) ___/5
Total ___/90
You will be graded according to completion and quality of work.
HAND IN THIS RUBRIC WITH YOUR PROJECT
Due Date: Thursday, October 16
Student Teacher: Thomas Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/10 State Standard: Review/assessment of all of them Subject: English, poetry Name of Lesson: Quiz/Conferences Period / Time: 3A/3B
I. Goal: Students will display knowledge of poetry attained in the unit thus far with a quiz
Students with receive encouraging and useful critique on their poetry working one on
one with me
Students will have time to work on their poetry portfolios
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives:
Quiz
Hand out revision sheets
Begin conference sessions
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
Open and end with prayer, give positive and uplifting feedback on poetry
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials:
quiz, revision sheets
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: Hand out quizzes for ample time B. Transition: After quizzes are done, “Now I will meet with each of you
individually to talk about your poems and how to improve them” C. Main Lesson: Hand out revisions sheets, while they work on those, begin working through the
class to give them ideas for revisions, which are required for the final project D. Transition: Good job today, next week we will finish conferences, have a final discussion on
what poetry is, and on the last day, have a “Poetry Sharing Day” E. Conclusion: Have a good weekend class
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: quiz
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: projects
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation: quizzes were good overall, should have made more points/some bonus
opportunities because of the meter struggles. Still, most kids got partial points and did fine.
X. Coop’s Comments:
Conferences are a good idea, kids seemed to do ok with the quiz.
Poetry Quiz
What type of literary device is being used?
Word Bank: Onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, metaphor, rhyme, oxymoron, simile,
personification. Each word is used once.
1. He smelled like a dumpster filled with grease in mid-July
1. His mind was a jungle, wild, untamed, and dangerous.
1. The branches of the tree reached out to my window, running its fingers on it
threateningly. 1. Bang! Pow! Blam! The guns sounded as Black Bart and his crew made off the 20
million dollars.
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/How I wonder what you are
1. Big Bobby burped brightly 1. Jumbo Shrimp
1. We walk in the street/while we leap/and smile with our teeth
Feet: 1=monometer, 2= dimeter, 3=trimeter, 4=quadrameter, 5=pentameter, 6= hexameter
Label the rhyme scheme AND meter in this poem, and classify it (trochaic hexameter, dactylic
monometer, etc.)
Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
-William Shakespeare
Classification: ______________________
Determine the theme of this poem, support your answer with clues from the text:
Self-Portrait
I resemble everyone
but myself, and sometimes see
in shop-windows
despite the well-knownlaws
of optics,
the portrait of a stranger,
date unknown,
often signed in a corner
by my father.
-A.K. Ramanujan
Revision Sheet
2. What I like about my poem:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. What I do not like:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. Poetic devices I used in my poems:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. What I would like to change:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
1. How I could make these changes:
a. Poem 1:
a. Poem 2:
Student Teacher: Thomas Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/14 State Standard: Subject: English, poetry Name of Lesson: Individual sessions Period / Time: 3A/3B I. Goal:
Students will receive positive feedback from me and their peers regarding
their poems
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives:
Continue and finish individual conferences
Students continue to work on their projects and read poems to a peer
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
open and close with prayer, give positive and encouraging feedback
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials:
poems, revision sheets Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: no time
B. Transition: C. Main Lesson: meet with as many kids as possible, walk through revision
sheets, discuss as needed D. Transition: Good job today class, tomorrow we will have our weekly grammar and
vocabulary exercises and have a final discussion on what poetry is. On Thursday, your projects
are due and we will have a poetry sharing day, where each of you will choose a poem to share
with the class.
E. Conclusion: hand back quizzes, have a good day
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: Conferences
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: projects
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation: I thought the conferences I had went very well. The kids responded
positively to my critiques and seemed to be excited about the idea of poetry. I had a few kids
respond much more enthusiastically than I anticipated. In the future I will have them turn
their poetry in prior to meeting with me, and have it scheduled more effectively, as I did not
get to speak to each student.
X. Coop’s Comments: Went well. He’s getting a hang for timing and planning. The students
seem to be benefitting from the one on one’s.
Student Teacher: Tom Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/15 State Standard: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage
when writing or speaking.
Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for
reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate
independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to
comprehension or expression. Subject: English, poetry
Name of Lesson: What is Poetry? Part Two Period / Time: 3A/3B I. Goal:
Students will get practice in grammar skills
Students will learn new vocabulary words
Students will discuss and think about what poetry is, now after having this unit.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: Grammar practice
Vocabulary exercise
Paragraph writing
Poetry discussion
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration: Poetry can always point to Christ, seek Him in your readings
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology: Smart board
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: Smart board
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: Project a sentence full of grammatical errors on the board, students volunteer to
make corrections until the sentence is perfect.
B. Transition: “Everyone get out your journals, it’s vocab time!”
C. Main Lesson: read vocabulary words, have students give their definitions and then give the
“correct” one for them to write down. Give examples of the words in sentences. Students then must write
a paragraph on a topic of their choosing using each vocabulary word and showcasing the capitalization of
proper nouns skill.
Following this, we will have a final discussion over what poetry is. They first write down what they think
poetry is, then share with a partner. Then we discuss as a class what our findings are. Target words in
definitions: artistic, devices, theme, language, words. My definition(s): “Art whose medium is
language” ... “Dense literature” ...will not give kids a precise definition, it is a thinking exercise.
D. Transition: Good job today class, tomorrow is “Poetry Sharing Day” choose which poems you
will read. E. Conclusion: Peace Out
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: Students write paragraphs showcasing a grammar skill and the learned
vocabulary words.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: projects
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
It seemed to go well. The kids have good examples of the vocabulary, and a
diversity of kids to came up for the grammar exercise. Kids really seemed to grow
in their understanding of poetry. I got some great answers.
X. Coop’s Comments: Good lesson, kids responded well.
Student Teacher: Thomas Forke Grade Level: 10 Date: 10/16 State Standard: By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and
poems, at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently. Subject: English, poetry Name of Lesson: Poetry Sharing Day Period / Time: Block 3A/3B I. Goal:
Students will develop and appreciation for all different kinds of poetry selected by
their peers.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives:
Each student reads a poem
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration:
Open, close with prayer, take note of spirituality in poems
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: original poem written for the class, surveys
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: Hand out survey regarding my performance, have kids fill it out and
pass it forward. B. Transition: “We’ve all spent a lot of time writing, reading, and learning about poetry. Everyone
be respectful and listen to the poems being read, don’t forget to snap.” C. Main Lesson: Each student reads a poem they either wrote or selected. After each kid, we ‘snap’
(instead of clap, in the poetry fashion). I’ll read my poem when the kids are done. If there is time, I’ll take
volunteers for any other readings.
D. Transition: “Pass up your poetry projects.” E. Conclusion: “Thanks guy, it’s been great being your teacher, I couldn’t have asked for a better
class or environment. I’ll miss you and have a good rest of your year.” Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: Poetry Projects
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment:
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
I thought today went really well. Many kids read their original poems, and I
could tell they were proud of them. Even the ones who read other poems were
having fun. Everyone was respectful, and I could tell they liked my poem as well. I
was also very pleased with how many kids volunteered to read their poems with
the extra time. There were many more than I anticipated, and they were all very
excited to share. It was a great day.
X. Coop’s Comments:
Very fun class, the kids enjoyed it. It was a good way to end his student teaching.
Survey
1. What did you like/what was effective about my teaching style?
1. What didn’t you like/was not effective about my teaching style?
1. What is something I could improve on to be a more effective teacher?
1. Did you enjoy the unit on poetry? Why or why not?
1. Did you learn anything in general?
1. Any other comments or suggestions you have, please write them here:
Poem for kids:
The leaves are
green
and the weather
changes, back to
school halls and
social exchanges.
I see summer sun
I feel summer
heat
sparkled pavement
speeds along
inches
from my feet
on a bike
to the city
named for the son
from Jesse’s tree
where the people
are my homies,
jiving to a
groovy beat, and
all the students
and the teachers
have been so
great to meet
and greet.
The leaves are in
their purples and their
yellows and their reds.
The autumn air
is chilly and poems
are in my head.
Pavement sparkles dull
minds fall in their lulls
blank with stares and mulls
sleepy in my skull:
awaken my mind,
sophomores, with your
wisdom and your poems!
but down south I must go
with cowboys and their bulls.
I’ll move on with a cry:
Peace out Aquinas High!
TWS Reflection
Overall, I felt like my teacher work sample went well. The kids had fun with poetry, and they
learned about its nuances and devices that make it a unique form of literature. My biggest
enemy was perhaps my own perception regarding what I could accomplish in the time I had.
Initially, I thought I could cover devices, rhyme scheme, meter, and theme in three 40 minute
periods days. Right off the bat, I found that I was undertaking something much larger than I had
anticipated. Luckily, I thoroughly enjoy poetry, so this realization was a positive. Still, throughout
the unit the kids responded really well to the writing prompts and activities put before them. I
truly feel like they learned about poetry and developed enthusiasm toward the subject.
Almost immediately, I was very pleased with the response from the kids regarding the poetry
videos. I played “Beethoven” by Shane Koyczan, a slam poet from Canada, unsure as to how
they would react to the different form of poetry. After each poem I read, I would have the
students give me a thumbs up, down, or in the middle. It was nearly a unanimous thumbs up for
this performance, which is very powerful and thought provoking. Then I showed a Maya Angelou
clip, and nearly all of them gave it a ‘thumbs down,’ which shocked me. At first I was a little
disheartened, but then I figured what I truly wanted to avoid were those in the middle; this was
the poems were eliciting a response, indicating that the kids were engaged and thinking. This
was an encouraging day to kick off the unit.
Included with the videos on the first day was a discussion on the definition of poetry. I felt like
this was an overall positive as well. I literally filled the board with poetic devices and
characteristics that the students came up with on their own. I could tell that they had received
instruction on this before, but still needed guidance to narrow down (or broaden for that matter)
their conceptions of poetry. I was excited by the possibilities and the diversity of responses; it
was not only the ‘smart’ kids coming up with these characteristics, but nearly everyone had
some sort of input, even the students with an IEP.
I thought the writing prompts were a strong part of the unit as a whole. The first one, “Theme for
English B,” brought some great thoughts and enthusiasm from the class. In this poem, Langston
Hughes writes from the perspective of an African American student studying in Harlem, telling
about himself. Simply enough, I had the students mimic this by writing about themselves. At first
they were a little wary, inquiring about my standards and what I wanted to see as a product. I
told them that I simply wanted to write about themselves in poem or narrative form. First off, I
was surprised that the greater majority chose to write a poem, and I was stunned with some of
the things they wrote, and excited about the possibilities.
One of my quieter students, with this first prompt wrote something incredibly beautiful and
personal, and felt comfortable enough to share it with the class (I only took volunteers to read
their writings). I don’t recall the exact writing, but it far exceeded my expectations in writing
quality and skill. I had two students with IEPs read their poems. One little girl with a beaming
face spoke about the cats on her farm and her fashion style, timid at first, progressively getting
louder and prouder. The other read a hysterical poem relating his life to the McDonald’s menu
calling himself the “Big Mac”; this totally caught me off guard, and the class was on the floor
laughing. He loved it.
As other students shared their prompts, the class as a whole felt more comfortable sharing.
This manifested itself throughout the unit. Some of the shyer girls, had their friends read their
poems, of which many turned out to be fantastic writings. One of the ‘unmotivated’ students
sitting in the back was hesitant to share at first. Later in the sharing on the first day, he read his
poem, which was hilarious and clever. The class loved it, as did I, and it was apparent that he
was highly pleased with the response.
The students began to understand the purpose of the wiring prompts, not as assessments to
graded, but exercises of the mind. The observation day was solid; as I become more
comfortable with the class, I found that one my more powerful tools was humor. If the students
are laughing, they are paying attention and engaged. To give them an example of an
observation, I told them to take any object they saw or owned and write about it, and share
thoughts on it. I used the desk as an example. I sat in it. I got on the floor and examined the
underside, taking not of the gum. I inquired as to what model and make the desk was, and what
year it was issued. I took not all of the different booties that have sat in that desk in the many
years it has been in commission. That ordinary desk had so much material in it for a poem.
Some students were weirded out, some were laughing hysterically; the little girl aforementioned
was nearly in tears from laughter. One thing was common: they were all paying attention and
understanding the purpose of this exercise. Poets look at the world in different ways, and there
are poems hidden in normal everyday objects. This was evident in their observations. Kids
wrote awesome observations about the clock, trees, the blow-up shark suspended from the
ceiling, and many others. It taught me that letting loose and being a little looney is sometimes a
great way to gather attention.
I was very pleased with the prompts for “I have been one acquainted with…” and “The Soul
Selects Their Own…”. There many clever and humorous responses, but the best part was how
many brought a spiritual side to the prompt. Many wrote “I have been one acquainted with my
Lord,” “The Soul Selects Their Own God,” or some variation thereof. This turned into a great
conversation regarding the presence of God in all writing, including secular ones; in every poem,
we can find some sort of Christ-o-centric message. This relates to the experience with my
capstone as well. When reading “To Build A Fire” we discussed the spiritual aspects of it, and
how it relates to our lives as Christians and this was by far the most effective part of the lesson. I
learned how passionate kids are about what they believe, and faith application to everyday
things is not only valuable, but an engaging topic in itself. I want to work harder to make this the
centerpiece of my classroom.
Rhyme scheme seemed to go very well. It seemed like most of them had practice with this in
the past, and judging by their quizzes and exit assessments. They seemed like they were
having fun, simply because they were studying material that they understood, and finding the
rhyme scheme in the different poems because like a game for them. They also liked doing the
exercise with the poems they chose. I had a few extra on hand, just in case a student chose
poem with a poor rhyme scheme to work with, forgot to bring one or some other issue. I felt like
it was a successful lesson.
Studying meter, on the other hand, was the weakest part of the teacher work sample.
Admittedly, this is the part of poetry that I am least passionate about, and it showed in how
much time I spent on it, and my personal knowledge of it. I planned out how I would teach them,
but I failed to prepare a backup plan or alternate ways of explanation. Some of them caught on
right away, but it was the struggling kids, and some of the ‘in-between’ kids that had a hard time
with this concept, and I was disappointed in my preparation for the lesson. I continued to give
them examples, and gave them hints for the future quiz telling them about the most common
type of meter, iambic pentameter, and how sonnets follow that pattern. (The sample poem on
the quiz was a sonnet, and labeled as one as well.)
Additionally, the lesson was comprised of a few other things as well, including a writing prompt
and walking them through my expectations. I should have known to spend extra time on this,
given the pre-assessment, but to be honest, it’s a part of poetry that doesn’t really apply to
anything written after 1850, and is a part I’m not all that enthusiastic about. However, it is
important for those who many choose to study poetry in the future, and will be covered by
courses they will take in the future. As I move forward, I’ll have to be careful that my passions do
not cause me to fail to see what is in the best interest of the students.
There were a couple activities that the students seemed to respond to very well. The issue I
had was common to both of them: timing. The first of which was a partner discussion over
theme. I gave them the “Main Idea/Supporting Details” sheet which was very effective (worthy of
note is that the copy I attached is not he original; I only had a hard copy, which was provided by
Dr. U in ed. 470, and did not have an electronic rendition, but this is very close to the sheet I
used; the same goes for the later activity which I will mention in the following paragraph). I
paired the students off and issued them a poem to read. They would put the theme in the “main
idea” portion and support their claim but writing down evidence from the poem on the remaining
lines. This illustrated the necessity to support their ideas with evidence from the text when
finding theme in poems and all other forms of literature for that matter. They seemed to learn a
lot from this exercise.
The other activity was the song lyrics study. They were paired off intentionally for this activity,
and that proved to be a learning conducive practice. They were very excited about the activity,
and I only had one kid forget to bring in lyrics to whom I provided lyrics to “All Along the
Watchtower” written by Bob Dylan. They were to trade lyrics, read aloud, and discuss them with
the partner while using the sheet as a template for discussion. Most of the groups were very
active and enthusiastic. Those groups who did not seem that way, I approached and walked
through a few questions to spur on the conversation. Afterwards, I literally heard kids say aloud,
“this was fun, let’s do this again,” and phrases to that affect.
As mentioned above, my timing could have been better managed. I did not anticipate explaining
the activities to take as long as it did, nor did I anticipate the activities themselves taking as long
as they did. In retrospect, I would have left a whole class period for the song lyrics activity (save
for a writing prompt at the beginning perhaps), and half the lesson for the theme sheets. I think
working with peers as I facilitated discussion was an effective method which I should have given
more time to permeate and take its full affect. Time management in the classroom is something
that I learned about a lot during student teaching I as a whole. Often times I was a bit too
ambitious with what I could fit into a forty minute period.
Looking back, the quiz I issued is another thing I would have reevaluated. The kids did fine on
it. There were a few poor grades, but for the most part the kids did fine. Still, I feel like I forced a
quiz in as another assessment of knowledge when perhaps a different method would have
sufficed, one less threatening to the students and conducive to learning. It did, however, show
me the need for repetition in the act of teaching. We talked about poetic devices, and practiced
them, but I should have pounded it into their brains. Again, most kids did well on that portion, but
I think that was a section where everyone could have receive 100%, but that was not the case.
The same thing goes for meter; I should have devoted another chunk of a class period to
solidifying that concept. It was helpful for me as the teacher, but perhaps not so much for the
students. I could have perhaps used the little time we had better.
The individual conferences I had with the students were another positive of the poetry unit. The
response of the students was well received, and sparked enthusiasm. I had the chance to talk to
one of my student’s mom, who mentioned that her daughter does not have a “poetry mind”, but
is a great student, and was looking for ideas. She was the first on my list for conferences. She
brought me a poem, which was really good to start, but could just use a few pointers to make it
a work of art. The conference was successful, I could tell she was proud of her poem and still
receptive of advice. I was sure to be overly positive, putting criticisms in the form of advice.
Looking over the revisions she made, she put a great deal of thought into it, took my advice in
some ways, and changed it in other ways on her own.
In another case, I worked with a kid who does not always work the hardest in the classroom. He
is, however, one of the nicest kids at the school with a quiet smile for anyone who acknowledges
him. Our conference went really well. I could see his face light up when I complimented his
poem, and he was overly receptive to the changes I suggested. It showed in the final revisions
of his poems (which I hardly expected him to make in the first place). He was making a poem
about water and the life giving entity that it is. In a nutshell, I gave him the advice to “show, not
tell” and this was evident in his final poem, which is also the one he read in front of class.
The only negative of this experience, was that I did not get to have a conference with each of
my students. I had a schedule planned out, but it turned out to be impractical to have
conferences as short as I anticipated they could be. This is one of the reasons I now question
issuing a quiz as I did. I would have liked to use that time to meet with each kid, and give them
more work time. Additionally, I had them bring their poems to the meeting, and then I would read
them. In the future, I will have them turn them in prior to the meeting, so time is not spent with
me trying to quickly read and come up with advice, as opposed to leaving the entire time just for
discussion. Every student I spoke with made changes to their poems that required reflection and
critical thinking; this is very encouraging.
As I went over their projects, it was clear that the students learned. They had good definitions of
poetry, and their poems contained the devices we learned. I was also pleased to find that the
overall effort put into them was high as well. The kid mentioned above, who wrote his poem
about water, made revisions on each poem and completed the whole project. This was a
pleasant surprise, based on his earlier efforts on class work. In a bitter/sweet episode, there is a
student who is very bright, but is an underachiever to say the least. He wasn’t “into” the whole
poetry thing initially, but liked it more as the unit progressed. I asked the kids to write two original
poems for the project; he wrote seven. Unfortunately, he completed very few of the other
requirements for the project. I was excited that he was enthusiastic about poetry, but
disheartened that he continued to choose the lazy route. I wrote a note on his project sharing
my thoughts.
Overall, the projects were great, but there are a few things I would change about them. I would
assign each kid a poem to show their knowledge of rhyme scheme and meter instead of them
choosing one, and encourage them to come to me for help if they do not understand the
concepts. This way I can be sure that they individually understand the concepts, and will not be
able to get answers from google or copy off of a friend; additionally, I have give the students of a
higher readiness level the more difficult poems, while giving the lower readiness students easier
ones. I felt like I did a fine job of explaining the purpose and goal of the project, but I would do a
better job of stressing the importance of turning in all components. I had students do a great job
on certain components, but leave out the revisions or explanations, and that hurt their grade
much more that I think they anticipated. Still, for the most part, the portfolios were great and I
saw a lot of positive growth, primarily in the definitions and revisions.
The teacher work sample went well as a whole. The kids were engaged in the unit and gave
enthusiastic responses. It was cool to see them take pride in their work and enjoy something
about which I am personally passionate. Those areas that may have been negative, I felt taught
me the most: be prepared, but don't force things into a lesson, leave plenty of time for
discussion, and keep the students’ needs at the forefront of my mind and goals. Perhaps the
biggest lesson was the importance of relationships. The nurturing and open atmosphere so
conductive to learning is created by a teacher whom the students are comfortable around.
Telling jokes, being positive, opening the floor to student input, and overall being nice and
reasonable go a long way in having successful classroom.